Ellen DeGeneres Laughs At Crypto The Same Way They Laughed @ The Internet

"History Doesn't Repeat Itself... But It Often Rhymes"

That quote, attributed to Mark Twain (a pseudonym used for anonymity much in the same vein as Satoshi Nakamoto), has been oft cited by scholars ever since. But perhaps never more appropriate than as an explanation of what took place a few weeks ago on the Ellen show.

In the snippet below, she playfully jokes her way in a self-deprecating manner through a layman's explanation of bitcoin.

Although she hits on some correct statements as to what Bitcoin's dictionary definition is, she makes fun of key aspects of those differences, choosing to portray them as weaknesses against conventional fiat, instead of strengths. This is not because she is dismissive of technological progress, but most likely because this is the depth at which she herself understands it. After all, someone who (hopefully) knew more about it explained it to her.

But this part is key because whether she read about it, or was briefed on it, someone explained it to her.

This example serves as a warning that continually explaining any cryptocurrency using only quick buzz-words without going in-depth-- is a recipe for creating false understandings of its true workings, fear of its safety, and ultimately doubts of its utility in the future.

For instance midway through the video, Ellen makes fun of hardware Bitcoin storage by pointing out putting your "life-savings on a piece of plastic" is an unsafe way to store your money. But she never mitigates this concern by discussing back-up paper wallets, and other security tactics one can use to ensure their cryptocurrency is safe. Moreover, she doesn't point out that conventional banks, where most of her viewers trust to store their fiat money, are now using cryptocurrency and blockchain to strengthen their security (and streamlining other aspects of their banking) as well.

This Has Happened Before... Sort Of

This isn't the first time future tech has been described and chuckled at by respected TV hosts who do not fully understand it. Here you'll see a confused group of well-meaning famous Today Show anchors laughing and explaining the Internet in lay terms as a "computer billboard" while struggling to figure out how to pronounce the "@" symbol, or even what it is.

To be fair, this was back in 1994, and well before most families in first-world countries even had one desktop PC in their home. But less than a decade later, this exchange could already be laughed at by almost anyone in the modern world.

Today, no one would describe the internet as simply a "computer billboard", yet there are those continually describing cryptocurrency in similarly dismissive terms as basically "invisible money".

If history is any indicator, less than a decade from now, we will look back and laugh at explanations like Ellen's too.